London, United Kingdom – Dentsu International has announced the appointment of Fred Levron, former worldwide creative partner at advertising agency FCB, to be its new global chief creative officer.

Levron brings with him over two decades of experience in the creative industry. Aside from previously working at FCB, Levron also worked as the global executive creative director at entertainment agency CAA Marketing, and the executive director and creative director at creative firm Ogilvy Paris.

According to dentsu, Levron’s appointment would be helping accelerate the company’s creative ambitions across its agencies and for its clients, who make up 95 of the top 100 advertisers globally. 

As part of his new role, Levron will be leading the network’s holistic creative agenda and its portfolio of creative agencies worldwide. He will also be building on dentsu international’s current capabilities and storied Japanese creative roots. In addition, Levron will be responsible for the network’s creative product and for accelerating creativity across the entirety of dentsu international’s creative, media, and CXM agency brands.

“I’m so excited to start this new transformation journey. We have the opportunity to build a unique creative company that brings creativity, tech, data, media, entertainment, and commerce together to become the most attractive place for talents out there and the most relevant partner for the biggest brands,” said Levron, regarding his appointment.

Meanwhile, Wendy Clark, the global CEO of dentsu international, commented, “Fred has one of the most lauded portfolios and creative reputations in the business. His appointment accelerates and emphasizes the importance of creativity as the hallmark of everything we do. I’m counting down the days until he joins.”

This new leadership appointment will take effect in November 2021.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Global esports organization Galaxy Racer (GXR) has appointed Allan Phang, former regional head of marketing and PR of professional esports company EVOS Esports, to now assume the role of chief marketing officer. 

Galaxy Racer holds a roster of eleven esports teams in various online battle games such as Legends, Dota 2, CS: GO, and Fortnite, as well as PUBG Mobile, and Free Fire. It has over 60 male and female esports athletes from 22 countries, with over 20 content creators across the Middle East North Africa (MENA) and Southeast Asia (SEA).

The organization said that Phang’s leadership appointment aims to lead the development of best-in-class strategic marketing plans to establish GXR’s brand presence on a global scale. She will be handling the organization’s marketing initiatives from social media and digital campaigns to advertising, partnerships, and creative projects.

Aside from previously working at EVOS Esports, Phang also worked at AirAsia for close to seven years and his roles included being the head of esports, leading as well in the areas regional marketing, ancillary income, employee engagement, as well as internal branding, corporate culture, partnerships, and business development. Most recently, he led the airline’s esports strategic initiatives including the AirAsia Allstars Esports Club, sponsorship activation for Mineski Dota 2 Esports Team, and the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) by Alisports, the sports arm of Alibaba Group. 

“I believe Galaxy Racer is on the right path to be a market leader in this space with their integrated 360 approaches focusing on content and lifestyle, as brands and marketers begin to understand the true value of esports and gaming in connecting with the hard-to-reach demographics of Millennials, Gen Z Digital Natives and Gen Alphas,” said Phang.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Racer’s CEO Paul Roy commented that Phang is a highly experienced business leader with a proven track record, including his vast knowledge and network in the esports ecosystem, which they value immensely. 

“As Galaxy Racer evolves into a lifestyle brand, I am confident with his cross-cultural leadership qualities, passion for innovative marketing, and forward-thinking mindset, he will be able to take us to the next level as we aggressively continue our global expansion across continents,” said Roy.

Galaxy Racer has also announced that it has recently brought onboard Guenther Hake, the senior vice president and general manager of Disney Consumer Products in Greater China and CEO at Oriental DreamWorks. Hake will be assisting in an advisory role with GXR’s brand partnerships, consumer products, apparel, and merchandising endeavors.

Paris, France – Global advertising agency, Publicis Groupe, has announced that it has acquired CitrusAd, the SaaS platform based in Australia that helps retailers monetize their digital page views. The acquisition aims to create the industry-first global retail media offer based on real identity.

CitrusAd, which has a presence in 22 countries and 6 industries, optimizes brands’ marketing performances directly within retailer websites. It provides technology to more than 70 retailers globally and over 4,000 brands are utilizing their self-served platform.

Under the acquisition, Publicis Groupe will be combining CitrusAd’s onsite expertise with its data-tech platform Epsilon’s offsite retail media offering, both powered by the CORE ID, positioning the agency to lead the new generation of identity-led retail media, with transparent measurement validated by transactions.

Publicis Groupe’s CEO and Chairman Arthur Sadoun commented that they are delighted to welcome the CitrusAd team to Publicis, as their developed technology, coupled with Epsilon’s CORE ID, will enable CPG brands to grow faster and retailers to generate new sources of revenue to win in a platform world.

He added, “It will also give Publicis a strong competitive advantage in a channel that by 2025 should surpass traditional TV spend.”

Publicis Group believes that the merger will also provide its clients with three decisive competitive advantages in e-commerce, namely, growth, customer understanding, and consolidated measurement.

The move will enable its clients to accelerate their growth in this dynamic channel, by increasing conversion rate and maximizing return on ad spends. They will also be able to access superior customer understanding based on first-party data from retailers, equipping them for a cookieless world.

In addition, brands will be able to reach their customers both onsite (in-retailer ecosystems) and offsite (in publisher ecosystems), and measure in real-time the consolidated performance of their media investments, whatever the channel of conversions.

“Retailers and brands are entering uncharted territory as retail media grows and having Publicis supporting CitrusAd in its efforts, I know that our customers will reap the benefit of a century’s worth of media expertise combined with high-quality technology and a team of retail media experts,” said Brad Moran, the co-founder and CEO of CitrusAd.

Singapore – Twilio, a global cloud communications platform, has announced the launch of Twilio Live, a cloud-based solution which allows businesses to quickly integrate audio and video live streaming solutions into their applications, a direct response to the rise of video channels as medium for customer engagement.

What sets Twilio Live apart from other solutions in the market, Twilio Live enables businesses to integrate these live streaming solutions with a custom fit for their brand and the needs for their online community. Furthermore, Twilio Live has a lower latency rate, made possible with Twilio’s reliable and secure infrastructure, combined with a best in class developer experience.

This, in turn, allows businesses in a wide array of industries, from retail to education to gaming and entertainment, to be able to build live streaming experiences that are unique to their brand.

“The rise of virtual experiences and the popularity of platforms like Clubhouse and TikTok have signaled that the next big channel for customer engagement is live audio and video streaming. Twilio Live gives businesses the building blocks they need to create personalized experiences for their communities and interact with millions of customers in a fresh and exciting way,” said Hakim Mehmood, general manager of voice and video at Twilio.

The launch of Twilio Live coincides with the greater demand for live streaming channels for customer engagement, evident with the latest data from Twilio’s annual ‘State of Customer Engagement Report’, where it reported that 98% of businesses say that video communication with customers accelerated more than other channels during the pandemic. From virtual conferences to workout classes to online learning, video and audio live streaming is here to stay.

Despite being in its beta phase, Twilio Live is the next step in Twilio’s journey to becoming the leading customer engagement platform, empowering businesses to build exceptional customer experiences that span every communication channel.

Twilio is present in Asia-Pacific, with offices present in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore.

New York, USA – Global health communications network Havas Health & You has announced that Eric Weisberg will now take helm as the network’s new global chief creative officer, effective August 2021.

In his new role, Weisberg will guide the creative output globally for the company through his deep experience in storytelling, innovation, media and content. He will report to Donna Murphy, global CEO of HH&Y.

Prior to his new position, he served as global chief creative officer at agency network Doner Partners Network, where he led a creative and new business rebirth at the 750-person micro-network. His tenure marked the most awarded era in the agency’s history, including wins from Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Nature’s Bounty, Travelocity, to name a few.

In addition, he was also formerly the global executive creative director at advertising company J. Walter Thompson which is now Wunderman Thompson, where he was responsible for creating the agency’s first integrated creative group blending expertise in traditional, digital, and customer relationship management (CRM).

“The zeitgeist of the world is driven by health and will be for the foreseeable future. The COVID and post-COVID era has deeply impacted our global consciousness, with every brand now needing a point of view on how they protect and advance consumer quality of life. There is no better place to revolutionize the global health dialog, in every category, than at the world’s largest and most capable network. I am delighted to join the over 5000 people of HH&Y and be a part of their next era of growth, innovation and creativity,” Weisberg said, regarding his appointment.

Meanwhile, Murphy commented that from the moment she met Eric for this opportunity, she knew that he was the right person to help unlock the next chapter for HH&Y — driven by the creativity, digital transformation and innovation that today’s brands want and need. She added that the opportunities and challenges that exist for businesses today require creative problem solving more than any time in recent history.

“Eric’s proven track record as a creative force and his understanding of connecting consumers through digital platforms, data-driven storytelling and content partnerships will be a vital complement to our investments in customer experience, content, technology and analytics. His reputation as an award-winning digital expert and hybrid creative leader adds a new dimension to our seasoned global leadership team. Eric also brings cultural compatibility with our agency with his people-first leadership style and shared passion for purpose-driven work,” she added.

Havas Health & You unites Havas Life, Health4Brands (H4B), Lynx, Red Havas and Havas Health Plus, all wholly owned health and communications networks, with the consumer health businesses and practices of Havas Creative Group.

Singapore – Global sports media platform, Group ONE Holdings (ONE), has appointed David Levy, former president at American television and media conglomerate Turner Broadcasting Inc, to its board of directors. He will serve as lead director, and will be actively involved in the development and execution of the platform’s strategy.

ONE is a sports media property that broadcasts across more than 150 territories with some of the largest networks and digital broadcasters, including Star Sports, Beijing TV, and TV5, as well as Turner Sports, and Dubai Sports, among many others.

Levy brings with him 30 years of proven leadership experience in the sports and media sectors. In his previous work, Levy has led Turner Sports’ media rights and defined the division through its association with premium sports content, events, and brands like the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship (March Madness), NBA, and MLB, as well as PGA Tour.

Levy has also overseen Turner’s addition of premium sports properties when it acquired the rights to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) – including UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and the UEFA Super Cup – which later became the foundation for the direct-to-consumer streaming sports destination, B/R Live.

In his appointment, he will be developing strategies to expand its live events, content platforms, and reach in the U.S. and other key international markets, including assisting in its media rights expansion efforts.

“ONE has an incredibly talented and visionary Board and management team, and I believe my complementary experiences and relationships will enable us to capture the significant opportunities that lie ahead as the demand for live sports and creative programming reaches new heights across traditional and digital channels,” said Levy.

Meanwhile, Chatri Sityodtong, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Group ONE, commented that Levy is the perfect addition to the board with his proven track record of working with the largest sports leagues in the world.

“We look forward to working with David as we accelerate our strategy to bring our popular martial arts and gaming content to the U.S. and other international markets,” said Sityodtong.

New York, United States – Global cloud-based marketing technology company, Zeta, has appointed Crystal Eastman to be its first-ever chief marketing officer.

Zeta, which has a presence in the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, as well as India, among others, offers its platform and data to empower consumer brands to acquire, grow, and retain their customers at a low cost.

The company said that the new leadership is in line with its strategy to drive the executive team for Zeta’s next phase of growth.

As the first CMO at Zeta, Eastman will be responsible for global marketing strategy and execution, including brand activation, performance marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and events and sponsorships, as well as client engagement, and Zeta’s employer brand.

Before joining Zeta, Eastman was the head of global marketing at technology firm The Trade Desk, where she was responsible for global go-to-market activities, including product marketing, sponsorships, and events, as well as global campaign activation. She has also held numerous senior marketing positions throughout her career, including leadership stints at brands American Express and BlackRock.

“It is an honor to join this talented and accomplished executive team at such an exciting time in the company’s journey. I look forward to helping marketers across the globe unleash their full potential by taking advantage of Zeta’s advanced identity solution, leading-edge audience insights, and uniquely integrated omni channel activation opportunities,” said Eastman herself.

Meanwhile, Zeta’s Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO David A. Steinberg commented that they are thrilled to have Eastman join the executive team, as she has an impressive, proven track record in growing data-driven and digital businesses, with deep expertise in all aspects of marketing. 

“Under her leadership, we will continue to deepen our understanding of our customers’ evolving needs, continuously innovate our product offerings and how we deliver them, and scale our growth ambitions by introducing Zeta to the next generation of marketers. Crystal joins an expanding, diverse executive team that brings the collective experience and leadership abilities needed to accelerate our growth agenda,” said Steinberg.

California, USA – Global customer data company Tealium has recently announced new features in its customer data platform (CDP), Tealium Features, which allows customers to connect to custom destinations, transform data, automate workflows, and launch new use cases faster with simple code.

Specifically, Tealium Features can aid customers through building or customizing integrations to connect to custom destinations and transforming real-time streaming data prior to activation to ensure that it is in its most usable format across the tech stack. In addition, it also aids in automating workflows to minimize repetitive, time-consuming tasks and increase high-scale efficiency and quickly connect customers to external datasets to leverage critical data that lives outside of a business’ CDP.

“We pioneered this type of customization capability in the market when we introduced extensions in Tealium iQ Tag Management and Tealium Functions brings the same customization flexibility to our server-side products,” said Mike Anderson, CTO and founder at Tealium.

Tealium iQ Tag Management pertains to one of the systems of Tealium, which aids customers to take in charge of their marketing technology implementations, which in turn eases the deployment of new vendor tags and makes edits to existing ones.

“Most of the customer experience is digital but the ecosystem of data and technologies powering these experiences are rarely based on a single platform. To keep the entire journey connected, businesses need more flexibility and options from their customer data platform (CDP) to quickly build custom ‘just for me’ integrations, automations and transformations for their unique application stack and use cases,” the company said in a press statement.

Today, Tealium Functions is generally available for Tealium’s other services such as EventStream API Hub and AudienceStream CDP customers enabling them to create custom functions for data destinations and integrations. Later this year, Transformations in Tealium Functions will be available to further expand customization capabilities and allow customers to create functions at the point of data collection to transform, modify, or validate events before processing.

“With Tealium Functions, our vision is to eventually enable customers to create a customization layer that can be used at any point of the data lifecycle so they can truly identify and address their most complex business needs,” Anderson concluded.

Boon, Germany – E-commerce has been seeing an unprecedented rise in adoption in the past recent years, and with this, a slew of new players in every touchpoint in the ecosystem is biting at the open opportunity. The giant in logistics Deutsche Post DHL Group (DHL) has come out with a new global brand campaign to reassert its leadership and expertise in e-commerce, and it is titled ‘Keep up with the clicks’.

Besides providing delivery service in the growing e-commerce industry across 220 countries and territories, DHL also offers advice to companies on improving their website presence with a website health check.

The campaign’s TV spot, done in collaboration with DHL’s creative lead agency 180 Amsterdam, aims to remind businesses that DHL is the ideal partner to help it deal with the current increasing demand in e-commerce and to help it “keep up with the clicks.”

The TV spot features the voice of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor Tom Hollander, who explains in a rhyme-like rhythm how e-commerce has grown rapidly over the last few years. He tells the story of online shopping, from the early days when it was still easy for a retailer and logistics provider to keep track of and meet demand, and how online shopping has now become more established and almost a routinary part of our lives.

DHL Express’ CEO John Pearson said, “As logistics experts, we can help companies keep up with the growth and benefit from it in the best possible way. In addition, we can help any brand to be a global brand tomorrow. Especially offering express delivery is beneficial for fast-moving e-commerce and can increase consumer buying activity and consumer loyalty.”

The campaign will be running in more than 30 countries, and in addition to the TV spot, the campaign will be seen across digital channels, both in the form of digital banners and video, as well as print ads.

California, USA – Evident in its constant commitment to move the ad tech industry to a privacy-first approach, global adtech company Quantcast has recently appointed Min-Jae Lee as its new chief privacy officer. She will be responsible for driving Quantcast’s privacy-first approach and helping brands and publishers manage consumer consent.

Formerly from software company The Trade Desk, Lee served as lead privacy counsel and oversaw the company’s global privacy program. During her time at the company, she navigated and addressed the challenges of GDPR, CCPA and the industry’s major privacy developments. Prior to The Trade Desk, Lee has also spent time at technology and media companies including Spotify and Adobe.

In addition, as a participant in the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Lee is also involved with evaluating proposed policies for the industry. 

Speaking about her appointment, she said, “Privacy is a socially-driven reflection of society, and we’re in a very interesting time in the evolution of digital advertising, where decisions around privacy are paramount. I chose to join Quantcast because it is leading the market in privacy-driven products through innovative technology, and is a leading force in helping the industry adapt to future changes. 

She added, “I look forward to applying my knowledge to help drive Quantcast’s privacy-first approach to a smooth transition for its customers in the era of advertising without third-party cookies.”

Meanwhile, Konrad Feldman, CEO at Quantcast, commented, “Consumer trust is at the core of our business, and adding a privacy veteran with Min-Jae’s level of expertise to our team reflects our focus and commitment. Min-Jae shares our values of championing the free and open internet with a privacy-first approach and her global perspective will help us continue to lead the market and help our clients to confidently meet the requirements of existing and emerging privacy standards around the world.”

Lee joins the new slew of Quantcast appointees namely Valerie Junger, chief people officer; Ingrid Burton, chief marketing officer; and Ileana Falticeni, general counsel. 

“We have seen extensive privacy reforms within Europe and North America and, more recently, in some parts of APAC. I fully expect this trend to continue in APAC and with our privacy-first approach and Min-Jae’s experience, Quantcast is well-positioned to help consumers, publishers and brands. I am delighted that Min-Jae Lee has joined the Quantcast team,” said Andrew Double, managing director for APAC at Quantcast.